Yes, I Write with AI. Now What?
Should I be "ashamed" of myself?
Every time there’s a new advancement in the development of artificial intelligence in relation to creativity and creative tools, the internet explodes into a frenzy.
Then the same old conversation ensues, with two distinct and contrarian views taking the forefront to oppose each other:
“AI is bad and is destroying creativity as we know it.”
vs.
“AI is awesome and it makes the creative process easier.”
The reactions are often loud, dramatic, and, honestly, a little overblown, with either side giving the other ample room or space to properly present its opinion.
Since its usage “boom” from October 2022 to date, which resulted in its permeation of countless industries across the world, AI has become a permanent part of many daily conversations.
And in the creative world, it’s been dubbed the “biggest” threat. A Lex Luthor-type villain, of sorts.
Unlike a few industries, where the general consensus is “Yes, AI might replace many jobs and their workers, but overall, it will improve our productivity and efficiency”, the creative writing industry has yet to come to a general agreement on the role that AI has come to play in it.
AI-generated writing has been called robotic, uninspired, and mechanical.
Many people say it lacks “heart”, “soul”, and the deeply human spark that makes great writing powerful.
They argue that AI-generated content sucks the fun and passion out of creativity, turning the beautiful, messy, deeply personal process of storytelling into something sterile, soulless, and mass-produced.
(All of which I agree with, by the way, but more on that soon.)
And this disdain is not just against writing; it’s against any AI-related output in the entire creative space.
AI-generated images. AI-created music. AI-assisted filmmaking. Any AI-driven, aided, or supported creative project seems to come under intense, scrutinous fire from the people who have branded themselves as the “real creatives”.
The critics say it’s bad for the environment, bad for artists, and bad for originality.
There are also the ethical concerns about copyright violations, content scraping, and audience protection.
Many of these concerns are valid, and I agree with a good number of them.
What I don’t agree with is, however, the exaggerated reactions and the panic.
”AI will replace all writers.”
“AI is ruining art as we know it.”
“AI will destroy the sanctity of storytelling.”
“A real writer will never use AI for any reason.”
“I can’t take you seriously if you use AI-generated imagery.”
Bla, bla, bla…
To me, all of the above narratives and many others opinions are simply being driven by the people who refuse to accept that times are changing and people who are directing the frustration from their valid concerns on the wrong people.
Let’s Be Real For A Moment: AI Is Not Going Anywhere.
A lot of people talk about AI like it’s another trend of the times, similar to the “digital apes” and “virtual universes” from a few years back.
Many AI critics talk about “putting an end to AI” like it’s even a realistic possibility. Like they know of a giant red button labelled “SHUT IT ALL DOWN” that is just waiting to be used.
Unfortunately for them, technological advancements just don’t work that way.
And even more unfortunately, for both critics and supporters, due to the massive growth in usage, features, and popularity, AI tools and systems have made billions in profits for a lot of tech companies and startups.
Which means that because AI use has now become intertwined in the daily work and life activities of many regular people (you and I), it has in turn become a profit machine for a great percentage of the 1%.
This “dependence” (utility resulting in demand) and “profitability” (income from doing the supply) had made it virtually “impossible” for either side to even consider “getting rid” of AI, despite the pressing concerns.
Both sides would probably ask: “Why would I do that?”
I’d like to liken the rise of AI use in the creative industry to the early days of the internet.
It was messy, disruptive, full of wild promises, and also full of initial problems, but ultimately? It was unstoppable.
When the internet first took off, many people panicked.
They said it was going to destroy print media, kill jobs, ruin attention spans, and erase human connection. Yes, it did do a good measure of all those things, but nobody can disagree that the internet changed the world.
In the end, we adapted to its presence and its.
Industries evolved. New rules emerged. The game changed.
I envision the same thing happening with artificial intelligence, and it’s, in fact, already happening.
AI tools, systems, and companies will continue to evolve, dominate, and amass large market shares until they’ve encompassed all or almost every industry that’s known to man.
Including the creative industry.
So, rather than try to resist this inevitability or to condemn every user/company that’s taking advantage of this rapid change, maybe the better perspective to have is to ask the critical questions.
How do we regulate AI use ethically?
How do we protect the intellectual property of human artists and storytellers?
How do we ensure that we stay ahead of the AI development and use it to our advantage?
The Studio Ghibli AI Controversy
Let’s talk about the recent (and still ongoing) Studio Ghibli vs AI discourse.
A few weeks ago, a wave of AI-generated images, heralded by none other than AI tech giants OpenAI, flooded the internet. Their updated engine produced images that mimicked the warm, dreamy aesthetic of Ghibli’s iconic animation style.
The speed and somewhat accuracy of outputs? Impressive.
Were they beautiful? Maybe.
Some people loved it. Some people hated it. Some couldn’t have felt more indifferent.
But for the artists who spent years of their lives studying, sketching, animating, and pouring their souls into these films and for their fans, their almost cult-like following?
This development felt like a slap in the face, the highest height of disrespect and disregard for their work.
According to many point-of-views, Ghibli isn’t just a mere art style.
It is a legacy.
It is authentic storytelling laced with careful tenderness and meaning. It is the hours, days, and weeks spent refining every frame. It is the quiet scenes, the deliberate pauses, and the sense of wonder.
To see an algorithim “vomit” a face-value replica of the art style, with no regard for the soul behind its creation, left a bitter feeling within a lot of people.
And this is the fear that many AI critics have.
If AI can produce something that looks “good enough,” what then will happen to the real artists?
Will animation studios start choosing speed over soul? Will they replace craftsmen with code? Will the next generation of creatives get a fair chance?
Will consumers and audiences be able to tell the difference between passion-driven works and hastily regurgitated AI wannabes?
All of that remains to be seen.
However, the potential risk of these things happening is exactly why we need real boundaries.
Many AI tools and data sources are free and open to all, yet it should not be a free-for-all market that encourages anybody to exploit the work of another human being without their consent or without attributing proper credit.
We are already seeing signs of this happening.
A few weeks ago, a leak was released where Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta was alleged to have used the pirated versions of over a million published books and titles to train its AI language model.
Things like this should not exist.
Creators, just like all people, deserve protection, and our work deserves respect.
I Use AI to Write. And I’m Not Ashamed of It.
That being said, I am a huge, HUGE fan of artificial intelligence, and a lot of the resulting tools and websites have made creating so much easier for me.
For many years I was in an apathetic writing slump, disillusioned by my own ability and by the sheer mental demand it took for me to write anything out.
Coupled with a severe inspiration drought and a lack of clarity in my next creative direction, a daunting fear hung over my head: That I would never enjoy writing again.
Then on January `1st`, 2023, I discovered ChatGPT, and boy, it literally changed my life.
Yes, it was (and still is) a bit wonky with its responses, but the sheer ability of the tool and its potential for improvement opened my eyes to one truth:
While writing is hard and requires a ton of work, it doesn’t always have to be so difficult.
Through endless prompting and simple integration into my daily use, I was able to learn multiple ways to utilise this tool (and other tools) in my writing endeavours, my work, and certain parts of my life.
Today, it is a staple part of my writing process.
I’m not saying that I cannot create without it; I’m saying, “Why on Earth would I want to?”
It’s wild that I’m talking about a website like it’s a profound, long-lost friend, but when you hear people talk about how the “grittiness” and the “struggle” of the creative process are what produces “real art” and make the whole journey “worthwhile”, it just makes you wonder if AI is anything more than another means to an end.
I don’t even buy into all that.
Who says creating has to be rigourous?
Who says it’s a crime to think up a 5-part book series, feed your ideas and themes into an AI chatbot, and have it spit out a complete roadmap from start to finish for you in mere seconds?
Who says I should feel shame for having an assistant that doesn’t complain, doesn’t whine, improves with every further instruction (most times), and still has the ability to get even better as time goes by?
One-dimensional thinking people, I’d say.
The only “risk” I see with AI in this industry, apart from the ones already mentioned earlier, is the risk of being over-reliant on it as a creative crutch.
A risk that I believe no creative who actually enjoys their work would fall into.
It’s the desire to create even better that drives many of us to be big fans of this innovation.
I have a future article planned on this (subscribe so you don’t miss it), but for the sake of context, here are some ways AI helps me in my writing:
I use it to outline and organise my thoughts before I start writing complicated pieces.
I use it to create, refine, and validate offers for my writing business.
I brainstorm potential new angles for personal essays and relatable stories.
I record voice notes of my fiction ideas when I’m on the go and I’m unable to write so I can transcribe them into text later.
Sometimes I record my ramblings and ask AI to turn it into a post outline or create a first draft for me to edit.
All of this and many, many more.
You can tell me that writers were doing these things long before AI came, and you would be right.
However, that doesn’t mean that full advantage of this new, available technology should not be taken.
People washed clothes with their hands before washing machines were created.
People kept huge sums of money in their houses before we had banks.
People fought wars with sticks and stones before the invention of nuclear weapons.
Last one is a grim example, but you catch my drift.
The world we’re living in today is growing so fast that it requires our constant adaptation, for the better or worse.
Returning back to my original point: The writing process is not always exhilarating and magical.
You don’t always pick up the pen and write fire words and characters and narratives.
No, writing can be messy.
It’s often repetitive, and writing tell is generally always tedious.
Sometimes you have what you’re convinced is your greatest idea yet lying in your head, but you just can’t find the energy or discipline to start.
Sometimes you start and you’re having trouble structuring it perfectly.
Sometimes you’re overwhelmed by the sheer possibilities and you just need a starting point.
You can tell me that these things make the process “beautiful”, and I will tell you that AI will help you get there much faster.
No more long hours drawing plot maps.
No more gathering people in a room to break down complex topics.
No more crying and hating your life choices and wondering who even convinced you that you could write. (Just kidding, that never goes away.)
Nobody even has to know that you use AI if you’re (for whatever reason) ashamed of people finding out.
If you’re good at it, nobody ever has to know.
I once saw a 100% AI-written article on Substack, and it made me tear up in laughter at just how bad it was. It was shocking to me that a “writer” would put out such badly written content under their full government name.
However, when I checked the comment section, most people there seemed to have genuinely enjoyed the post. It was like they didn’t know (or care) that it was written by a bunch of ones and zeros.
I don’t want to get into why that is both a good and terrible thing for both writers and readers, so let me just end the thought loop there and move on.
AI Will Never, Ever, Replace Good Writers
Another honest truth that I can defend anywhere:
AI LANGUAGE MODELS SUCK AT WRITING.
All of them.
Trust me, I know this cause I’ve used almost all of them.
ChatGPT, Bard, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek- you name it.
While they are AWESOME at spitting out text-outputs fast and often almost as accurately as you want them to, they just can’t write well.
This is the biggest issue most AI supporters have with these models.
While AI is a good typist, it is not a good writer.
Especially for creative writing: Fiction, Prose, Poetry, and the likes.
It is for this reason that I believe that good writers; the ones who have spent years and years honing their craft with every word, page, and teardrop, will never be replaced, in jobs or as artists, by whatever new language-model AI Tech companies throw at us every few weeks.
You see, the actual work of a writer goes beyond just typing words.
It is creating meaning out of nothing. It is getting bursts of inspiration from the most mundane things in the environment. It is knowing when a sentence would feel or sound off to a potential reader and fixing it. It is understanding the perfect rhythm, tone, timing to use for a piece of writing at a particular time. It is storytelling beyond flashy plots and captivating characters, but also with nuance and passionate intention.
That is what being a writer is.
A good writer can always read a draft, AI or otherwise, and instantly know exactly what to tweak to make it more engaging to whoever reads it.
And yes, I know, and I thoroughly agree that the technology is developing at an extremely rapid rate; I just don’t think it will ever quite get there.
Or maybe it will. I guess we’ll see.
Either way, AI will forever lack the Heart Factor, and that should give you a lot of peace as a creative.
Yet, it will be unwise to just bask in the peace alone when you can also be getting ahead of the game.
The thing is: While AI might not be able to replace you, you know who will?
The creative who is currently spending hours in front of his screen, prompting and mastering how to use this technology to his/her full advantage.
AI Will Definitely Replace Bad Writers
On the other hand, bad writers definitely have every reason to panic about AI.
Permit me to digress a bit…
As more and more labour-intensive industries continue to rely on the use of tech and machinery to make their product outputs better in quality and plenteous in quantity, a lot of living, breathing people will continue to lose their jobs.
We see this in the automobile industry and the software industry and on and on and on.
For a relatively long time, members of creative industries like writers, graphic designers, filmmakers, musicians, etc., had little to no worries about being “replaced” by anything apart from a human being with better ability.
Their biggest concerns were issues in relation to copyright protection and fair remuneration for their services.
However, with this ongoing AI boom, the problem of being sidelined or tossed aside in favour of a machine doing their work has now become the most pressing concern in the minds of many creatives, especially those who work for big media and entertainment corporations.
And even worse? This ongoing AI boom has then resulted in the greater compounding of the already existing issues of copyright protection and fair remuneration for services.
It’s all a big circus.
Record labels are looking for ways to replicate the voices of their biggest talents so they can churn out AI-generated hits regularly.
Movie studios are replacing scriptwriters with language models that they (wrongly) believe will generate better content for them in less time and in more volume.
Publishing companies are using your book proposals and drafts to train models that they believe (wrongly, again) will write better content than you.
I already emphasised the need to address some of these problems as soon as possible, so I’ll simply add this:
You’re probably not indispensible in your creative field anymore.
Everywhere around you, you have at least one or two AI tools, or companies, or startups promising to do what you can do at a better quality, for less cost, and in much lesser time.
Marketing agencies are now ditching freelancers to use AI to generate and run their Email campaigns, ads, copywriting pages, etc.
Many companies are running their social media presence with a 100% AI-team. With the machines running the posting, audience engaging, and even handling the complete content creation process.
I even have a feeling the biggest museums would soon consider putting their freely AI-generated art on display in a bid to draw attention and sell entry tickets to massive art fans at the cost of nothing to them. (If they aren’t doing this already.)
Are the quality of these creative works as “good” as the work done by trained and experienced humans?
Probably not.
But because the AI doesn’t ever get inspiration blocks, or feel burnt out, or have to take a vacation, or ask for a pay raise, and because it also has what is a very high ceiling for potential improvement, the odds are not stacked in the favour of the average creative.
I’m not saying this to proclaim “woe to all who create,” I’m just painting the grim picture of the future.
Writers, especially, are not safe from this.
If you are a creator with a blog or newsletter and you’re growing your own audience of people who read your work and love your personality, you’re probably safe. (Probably.)
But if you’re a fiction writer looking to land a publishing deal, or a journalist pitching to online news outlets, or a freelance writer looking to score jobs, you’re losing serious advantage in this war.
You will probably still be relevant for a long time, but the better AI gets, the more people just don’t see the need for you or your services.
So yes, many creatives, writers included, will lose their jobs to AI, especially if they are bad at what they do.
If all you’re doing right now is churning out lifeless, generic content that has zero uniqueness, zero audience appeal, and zero originality, congratulations to you; you’re the basic model of the AI tool that will eventually replace you.
While you’re busy creating mindless slobs, the technology is learning and making mistakes and getting better, and very soon it will be able to do all that you can do even better than you can.
It is only the creatives who will truly take the time to master their craft that will be safe. At least to a very good extent.
And if you want an even larger advantage, you should definitely start to master the AI tools in your industry.
Learn how they work, learn what they’re terrible at, and learn how to integrate them into your processes.
Yes, you might be training the technology to get better and better with your every prompt, but at least you’d also be using it to your advantage as a weapon in your arsenal.
This would be very good for you and I, because whether we like it or not and whether we’re involved in it or not, AI will just keep getting better and better.
Stop Policing How Other People Create
I am so sick and tired of the moral judgment of the AI police here on Substack and on the rest of the internet.
The most annoying part is that many of these naysayers and AI doomsday preachers do not ever reference or address the real, concerning issues in their “notes” and “tweets” (or whatever we’re calling it now).
It just seems like many of these people are reacting based on fear, ignorance, or a desperate urge to be “different”.
Now, I’m not saying that “YOU MUST LIKE AI BY ALL MEANS AND USE IT FOR EVERY SINGLE CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR YOU MAKE UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE.”
No, that is far from my point.
What I’m saying is that it is a YOU decision not to like it.
Why are you making it other people’s problem?
Why try to gaslight anybody against using tools that they believe make their creative processes easier?
Why is your fear of a rapidly changing future driving you to spite those who have chosen to embrace it?
Why?
Of course, you’re always free to voice your opinions.
But unless you’re criticising AI use in line with the real problems, and you’re directing the critique toward the tech companies and corporations that can actually do a thing about it, I think you should just leave people be.
Now Let Us Hear The Conclusion Of The Whole Matter
I love AI, okay?
I think after reading this entire article, you’ve probably already come to that conclusion.
AI tools have been helpful to me in creating and working, and also in my real, human activities
However, I’m not blind or deaf to the challenges it poses, both to the planet and to creatives and to the unsuspecting consumer audience.
I strongly believe that attention and scrutiny should be directed towards the big players in the AI game that can actually do something about these pressing concerns and not on the everyday, regular people who have decided to be a part of a development that can be very beneficial to them.
The push should be for AI regulation, not eradication, because, unfortunately, the “if no one is using it, it will eventually collapse” approach will just not cut it this time.
Artificial Intelligence, in both industries with tangible and intangible outputs, is here to stay.
Many creators that have realised this are utilising it to grow their audiences, create more content, and make lots of money— all while retaining their initial originality and uniqueness.
I might not have the testimony of the hugest numbers, but I’ve also benefitted greatly from my usage of the technology.
I’ve completed projects faster; rewriting AI content has helped me master the understanding of how good writing sounds and looks, and I still have a backlog of ideas and concepts still waiting to be explored.
Since I started out on Substack in August 2024, I’ve built a community of about 1.3k+ subscribers, and every day, I get messages from people telling me how much they love my stories, and how much my writing has resonated with them.
So yes, I write with AI, and I am not ashamed about it.
My writing is still real, the feelings it provokes are real, and the stories still stick their landing.
If you also use AI, you shouldn’t be ashamed either.
At the end of the day, it’s not the words you type that make you a writer, it’s what you can evoke from behind the words.
Want to see an AI-assisted article?
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I use AI a lot too, and I have to say, it keeps wowing me till now.
Of course, it is not that CREATIVE and ORIGINAL as a human, but it slashes of a huge percentage of my work, so why not?
Thank you for writing this. So many need to hear it.
Honestly... The A.I hate is ridiculous. People really underestimate just how helpful A.I can be for creators- not just for our creative processes, but also life in general. My ChatGPT is an angel in the form of zeros and ones. I use it for almost everything. Mapping out a plot for a new novel. Creating an outline for an essay. Generating new ideas. It gives me direction, speed and clarity. I think of the future of AI and creativity and I know that the people that have real reason to be scared are the ones who refuse to adapt to the changes in the world. A.I has come and it is here to stay. It is not the fire breathing enemy we make it out to be. Not if we maximize it's many benefits now. Thank you for writing this piece. It NEEDED to be said.